


your one wild and precious life

by weird_bird (2weird4)



Series: more than luck [1]
Category: Bombshells (Comics), DCU (Comics), The Question (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, First Meetings, Fluff and Humor, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-12
Updated: 2017-02-12
Packaged: 2018-09-23 01:06:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9633227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2weird4/pseuds/weird_bird
Summary: The first part of an AU mashup series of Bombshells and main timeline: a reincarnated Jason is adopted by Kate and Renee.Jason tries to steal the wheels off the Batmobile, but this time, Renee finds him before Bruce does. Background Kate/Renee.





	

**Author's Note:**

> title from ["the summer day"](https://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/133.html) by mary oliver. drawing from the poem thematically (though i think that'll become more clear as the series progresses).
> 
>  **warning** : mild language, references to hypothermia.

In the alley to her left, just out of the way of the streetlight’s tangy glow, something moves.

Renee’s hard-won instincts coil up inside, ready to strike. 

But then she sees that it’s only a boy.

It’s a black-haired, brown-skinned boy, and he’s trying to steal a tire.

The tire’s half his height. 

Oh, and it’s attached to the _Batmobile._

Compelled by curiosity or something else, she slows, and the boy looks up. “What are you doing?”

“What’s it look like I’m doing?” His eyes sweep her once and then narrow. “You a cop?” Canny. 

She could answer that in a couple ways. “Detective. Off-duty.” She doesn’t even have her badge on her. She wonders what the giveaway was.

“Huh.” Wiping a smudge of grease off his cheek, he rocks back on his heels. “You gonna arrest me?”

Renee walks around the car, the boy watching her close all the while. She pats the hood. “This baby’s parked in a fire zone. So you see how I’m in a pickle.”

His big eyes get even bigger. “You’re gonna arrest _Batman?”_ he demands, delighted.

Renee turns her head this way and that, thinking. “How bad do you want that tire?”

“Eh.” Shrugging, he stands up. “I was bored, and he seems like an asshole.”

She’s not really had too many face-to-faces with Batman, but she can agree with that assessment. 

Renee’s got to hand it to the kid for his boldness. And he’s kind of inspired her. 

“I was thinking…” Leaning an elbow on the glossy finish, she wiggles her eyebrows. “We tow it.”

The way he snickers at that reminds her so much of her brother Benny as a kid that she has to work hard to talk around her own laugh when she puts in the call.

 

“That thing had to be heavier than a sedan,” says a voice from above Renee.

Shifting the bouquet she got for Kate to the other hand, Renee shields her eyes so that she can look up against the setting sun.

It’s that boy from the other week.

“It was. But you saw me talking to those guys.” Renee shrugs. “Friends in the city.”

Perched on a railing just out of her reach, the kid swings his legs. “You’re kinda cool for a cop.”

“Yeah? You’re kinda nice for a punk,” Renee returns, snorting. Hand on her hip, she looks him up and down, same way he assessed her when they met. 

The light’s a little better this time--she can see his beat-up sneakers, raggedy hoodie, jeans with holes that aren’t just for style. He’s got quick eyebrows under floppy overgrown bangs. Cute kid.

“I’m Renee.” She sticks her hand up and out, a mostly symbolic gesture. “You got a name?”

“Sometimes,” he shoots back. He gives her an air-shake. 

“That’s a funny name.” Renee doesn’t push him, though. The caution’s good.

As he worries the strings of his hoodie between his small fingers, he studies the big bunch of tulips Renee’s gingerly balancing so as not to crush their striped blooms. Then his eyes move down farther. He picks out the gleam of her ring in the gloom. “You married?”

Just thinking about getting married to Kate makes her heart bounce around happy like her chest’s a pinball machine. “Engaged.”

“Your fiance has good taste in flowers,” he tells her. If he’s already got opinions on that stuff at his age, he’s already surpassed Renee’s romantic capability.

Renee nods. “Yeah, she does, so I’m hoping she likes them.”

It takes him a minute. Politely sheepish, he pronounces, “I bet she will.” For another second, he hesitates. 

He’s calculating, that arithmetic of trust and mistrust all kids with Gotham grit do in their heads. Thriftier than any bargainer at the flea market.

Finally, he makes his offer. “You can call me J.”

 

“It’s freezing out here tonight, J.” 

His breath’s coming out in white clouds as he jogs to keep up with her longer legs, still at a distance even as he matches Renee’s pace.

“It’s not so bad.” His chin lifts. Ah. Pride. Right. Not like Renee’s lacking for that, either.

“You got somewhere warm to stay?” she floats out, slowing and sticking her hands in her pockets as she glances at him sideways. “It’s supposed to snow later.”

“I’ll be fine,” J says in a hurry, which definitely isn’t a ‘yes.’

Renee stops short.

Kate bought her the jacket she’s wearing after her old favorite got slashed by a knife and then stained with acid. She loves her job. Really.

It’s high quality leather, higher quality than what it replaced, and it’s thick and most important, it’s cozy-warm.

Shouldering it off, she holds it out to J. 

“Are you crazy?” He takes a skipping step back from her.

“Take it,” Renee insists. She has to if there’s the slimmest chance he might. 

“I’m not taking your jacket, lady!” J zips up his jacket the last couple teeth and scrambles up the fire escape just as the first flakes begin to fall.

Renee dashes up after him.

His flight’s too swift.

The flurries come down fluffy against her eyelashes until she can’t see him anymore.

“Damn it.” She kicks a loose brick. 

Her toe smarts until the cold numbs it on the walk home, but that kid’s got to be even colder, and an extra layer can make the difference between life and death.

She pushed too far too fast. Fine. Her fault. 

But please, please let this not come down on the kid’s head.

 

Cold snaps in March have to be her least favorite. Born and raised here Renee might be, but she suspects the Caribbean in her blood drives her loathing. 

She and Kate ought to honeymoon somewhere tropical, she thinks as she flicks through the clothing racks, looking to buy work-appropriate sweaters.

A flash of red catches the corner of her eye. Setting down the flannel, she peeks around from the men’s side to the boys’ section. By the time she quit pretending with the blouses and the skirts, she was too tall and too wide in the hip for boys’ sizes, so she’d never shopped there.

Hanging just above her head is a puffer coat the color of a fire engine. It’s got comfy fleece lining and a great big hood. There’s only one left and it looks a size large, but there’s next winter to think about. 

The price makes Renee suck air through her teeth. 

She buys it anyway.

 

“I lost the receipt,” Renee tells J as she holds out the coat in both hands, “and I ripped off the tags.”

“That’s not fair.” J looks embarrassed, thin face hot. “I can’t…” She bets he’d be running if it weren’t rude. For all his cheekiness, he’s been courteous to her when it counts.

Renee does feel bad. J’s independent and brash and no matter how tough he has it, doesn’t want help. “Please?” She holds it out again, though she makes sure not to touch him. 

J stares down at the jacket. “Did your fiancee pick out this one, too?” He touches the edge of the hood.

“Will you wear it if I say Kate chose it?” Renee huffs, exasperated--surprised how fond her exasperation is. “Come on. It’s not my size.” She mimes pulling the jacket on over her long arms and broad shoulders.

Snorting, J at last holds his hands out for it. “Thank you,” he mumbles, almost bashful as he snuggles down into the coat. 

Renee wants to ruffle his downy black hair. Instead, she flips up the hood. “De nada.” 

_There’s_ that goofy grin.


End file.
